Many devices use a motor which is driven to drive a suitable driven element such as grinding elements of a machine tool. Many such driven elements are simply rotatable about the axis of the motor but in some cases the position of the driven element is adjustable about the axis of the motor so as to change the position of the driven element as it is rotated about its axis.
For example this applies to a situation where an angle drive or gear box is mounted in the motor and provides an output drive which is at an angle to the axis of the motor. In many cases it is desirable to change the orientation of the angle of the output around the axis of the motor.
This requirement is common in regard to robotically controlled grinding or routing or drilling machines where the angle of the axis is required to be changed in order to change the grinding direction.
One example of a machine of this type is disclosed in Canadian Patent Application 2,482,201 (Robin) published Mar. 23, 2005 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference and to which reference may be made for more detail of a suitable mode of use.
In many cases it is necessary to remove the angle drive or gear box from the chuck of the motor and to rotate the motor about its axis so as to pickup the angle drive at a different angle relative to the motor. This is often carried out by depositing the angle drive in a support, moving the motor to a new orientation and again picking up the angle drive from its support when a motor has changed direction.
This action of course requires a significant period of time and additional steps in the processing thus increasing the time necessary for certain processing steps in the robotic process.
It is of course well known that it is highly desirable for economics to reduce the process time on a robot system so as to increase productivity.